China: Marx Is Dead - Long Live Marx

After introducing a number of economic reforms
over the past few years, China last week adopted a device common in
Western newspapers: the correction. That rare gesture came after
People's Daily printed a front-page commentary asserting "We
cannot expect the works of Marx and Lenin to solve our present-day
problems of that time." Two days later, however, the paper
announced that its commentary should have read, "We cannot expect
the works of Marx and Lenin of that time to solve all of our
present-day problems."

The original remark was attributed to a recent address by Party General
Secretary Hu Yaobang,...